Also maybe the interim director is afraid she will get in trouble if the remote possibility happens but she did not account for it. You could also tell her that you have a "Risks" section in your design and will add that the possibility was considered but not included because the cost/benefit analysis didn't warrent it.

Does Interim Director have the final call authority here or does Supervisor? If Supervisor, I'd relay that Interim Director requested the work directly and ask for direction on how to proceed. If it's Interim Director's call, I'd send one last email documenting the low level of risk and the increased cost and ask for a final decision. If Interim Director decides he/she still wants the extra work with that information, there's not much else to be done other than get on with the extra work. At least if someone questions it later, you'll have documentation that it was Interim Director's call, not yours.

Small UpdateSorry for being incommunicado....things are getting confusing here. I did not have the opprotunity to bring up the written document idea to Supervisor on Monday or Tuesday (she was in meetings all day). On Wednesday, Director sent an e-mail to Supervisor and copied LabTech (I was not in the loop [LabTech told me about it]) asking if all of the work had been completed yet. LabTech responded saying that it had only been 3 days and that, due to her other responsibilities, the work was still in progress. I do not know what Supervisor's reaction to this was.

On a separate note, a different Sub-Director is bugging us constantly about a project he wants completed that has nothing to do with our normal day-to-day operations. He called a meeting today to discuss what had been accomplished in the past 7 days. Ummmmm...nothing because it is not a priority and we do not have the personnel to devote to his personal project. Maybe he should get a research grant and hire his own staff.

I'm thinking that some other higher-up is pestering Director and Sub-Director for results.

This morning (Friday) there was an e-mail from Director (to myself, LabTech and Supervisor) saying "Any updates on the progress of the extra work?" Please note it has only been 2 days since her last inquiry.

Supervisor is fuming and sent back "LabTech said on Wednesday that she would let you know when things are done."

Well the department leadership is still in complete disarray but at least this issue has finally been cleared up. Or as Supervisor put it "We have completely beaten this dead horse."

I ran an experiment addressing the frequency of this remote possibility and showed that the risk was quantifiable to one in a million (literally). I also repeated testing on the performance of the test and showed that it is performing well within all of the stated parameters (just as it had done before).

So I guess interim director is satisfied (for now) until she dreams up some new "concern". The bottom line is - now no one in the lab takes her seriously and she has lost a considerable amount of credibility due to her lack of leadership and decision-maiking.

The bottom line is - now no one in the lab takes her seriously and she has lost a considerable amount of credibility due to her lack of leadership and decision-maiking.

Any chance the interim director is aware of this and has learned a lesson?

One can hope but I think it's not really the case. One of the other things she is doing is second guessing the work of one of our most experienced workers (40 years on the job) with statements like "Are you sure you're sending this to the right place?" So it's not just me that she is annoying.

Most of us have concluded that this interim position has shown without a doubt that she does not have the temperament for the job. She will be so stressed that she will either have a stroke or be prescribed so many anxiety medications that she will be non-functional. Yet the rumor still persists that she wants serious consideration for the permanent post.

Wow, what a nightmare. I'm with previous PP's. Document. Document. Document. Every impractical suggestion she comes up with, calculate the risk of it actually happening in real life and the cost to the company.

Reading this makes me so happy my direct supervisor used to do my job. She is incredibly protective of me when people in my company want to pile more work on me that isn't practical. She knows how hard my job is.